Attention, Suzy Foss:
I am disturbed by information posted on your face book page – here is one of the excerpts which confounds me:
“The fact that any age child can go to a Title X clinic for not just birth control, but for testing and treatment of sexually transmitted disease and a pill that no matter what those who wish to deny the truth tell you, it usually results in a chemically induced abortion. All this forbidding parental notification. This is something I cannot support. Especially when little to no research is out on what the long term effects of these carcinogens are on the developing reproductive organs of our youth.
“Really mom and dad, grandparents, you want your beloved children given drugs with that potential impact without your knowledge or guidance in helping with their decision making? Really? That is what the pro Title X people claim.
“Water runs downhill, the path of least resistance. So to does human kind when enabled. Yes, there are some parents who do not communicate well with their children or worse yet, are uncaring or abusive. However to deny the huge majority of parents their rights to oversee their children’s lives when it come to medical procedures and medications, to not demand a full health history which needs parental involvement when dealing with minors prior to giving birth control pills, STI treatments and morning after pills, that is simply something I cannot support.”
1. Are you really serious about not having testing performed to rule out a potentially devastating sexually transmitted disease that can lead to infertility? Where would you have them go?
2. I presume you mean Plan B when you mention chemically induced abortion? Apparently you have not been fully informed regarding the facts, which are as follows (this is copied from WebMD, a reputable website for health care information):
“PLAN B ONE-STEP ORAL USES This medication is used in women to prevent pregnancy after birth control failure (e.g., broken condom) or unprotected sex. It is a progestin hormone that prevents pregnancy by preventing the release of an egg (ovulation) and changing the womb and cervical mucus to make it more difficult for an egg to meet sperm (fertilization) or attach to the wall of the womb (implantation).”
3. Clearly you are aware of the sexual abuse in this community. This is a widespread and serious health care problem for children and teens as it affects both their mind and their bodies. I see many patients in my role as a nurse practitioner in a pain clinic who have dealt with or are trying to deal with the aftermath of this incredible abuse. The Title X clinic might have been the only avenue for some of these teens to go to. They certainly cannot go to their perpetrators.
I can only hope you and the colleagues who voted with you to close the clinic are voted out of office in the next election.
Amy Knight
Stevensville
